daughter

[ daw-ter ]
See synonyms for daughter on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a female child or person in relation to her parents.

  2. any female descendant.

  1. a person related as if by the ties binding daughter to parent: daughter of the church.

  2. anything personified as female and considered with respect to its origin: The United States is the daughter of the 13 colonies.

  3. Chemistry, Physics. an isotope formed by radioactive decay of another isotope.

adjective
  1. Biology. pertaining to a cell or other structure arising from division or replication: daughter cell; daughter DNA.

Origin of daughter

1
before 950; Middle English doughter,Old English dohtor; cognate with German Tochter,Greek thygátēr,Sanskrit duhitā

Other words from daughter

  • daugh·ter·less, adjective
  • daugh·ter·like, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use daughter in a sentence

  • They are very urgent questions; our sons and daughters will have to begin to deal with them from the moment they leave college.

    The Salvaging Of Civilisation | H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
  • Following the boys, Baptiste entered by the kitchen door to encounter the mother and three daughters preparing the meal.

    The Homesteader | Oscar Micheaux
  • Rise up, ye rich women, and hear my voice: ye confident daughters, give ear to my speech.

  • Lady Corbet had, besides four daughters, two sons then living: both in turns succeeded to the baronetcy.

  • And they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and carry thy daughters upon their shoulders.

British Dictionary definitions for daughter

daughter

/ (ˈdɔːtə) /


noun
  1. a female offspring; a girl or woman in relation to her parents

  2. a female descendant

  1. a female from a certain country, etc, or one closely connected with a certain environment, etc: a daughter of the church Related adjective: filial

  2. (often capital) archaic a form of address for a girl or woman

adjective
  1. biology denoting a cell or unicellular organism produced by the division of one of its own kind

  2. physics (of a nuclide) formed from another nuclide by radioactive decay

Origin of daughter

1
Old English dohtor; related to Old High German tohter daughter, Greek thugatēr, Sanskrit duhitá

Derived forms of daughter

  • daughterhood, noun
  • daughterless, adjective
  • daughter-like, adjective
  • daughterliness, noun
  • daughterly, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012